Free Dark Place to Hide by A J Waines Page A

other. He instantly felt like family, like someone I’d already spent time with way back in the past. It was odd and decidedly disconcerting.’
    In fact she couldn’t believe her luck when Harper noticed her and asked her out. He shared that same uncanny feeling that they’d met before. It was totally bizarre. Every step in their relationship seemed to her like the most incredible gift. When he asked her to marry him – she burst into tears.
    ‘That’s not the response I was hoping for,’ he’d said, nervously, still on one knee in a not-very-secluded spot in St James’ Park.
    ‘It means yes,’ she snivelled, half laughing, half crying.
    Diane found out as soon as they started dating that Harper wasn’t interested in having a family. For someone so tactile and openly generous, she couldn’t understand it, but in time Harper told her everything.
    Tara folds her arms. ‘So he wasn’t interested in having kids until you came along?’
    ‘It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in having a family, he was terrified by the idea,’ Dee tells her. ‘His father had a lot to do with it. It transpired that Harper was convinced he’d repeat what he called his father’s “despicable behaviour” and be incapable of sustaining a long-term relationship. Until we talked about it and I worked on him, that was. I gradually chipped away at his armour, until I broke through and steered him towards a completely new frame of mind. Soon after, he proposed.’
    Tara helps herself to more wine. ‘Is it that you hardly ever have arguments with Harper or that you don’t tell me about them?’
    Diane laughs, then becomes quiet. ‘I know it sounds unlikely, but we haven’t had any major rows. I expected to make tons of compromises when we got together, but I’ve hardly made any. He has this innate respect and decency about him I’ve never seen in any other man.’
    Tara stares into the Rioja left in her glass. ‘So you haven’t had
any
bust ups?’
    ‘No – not really – seriously. There was one tricky time over Christmas when Harper walked out of the festive meal at his mother’s – you know about that – but that’s the biggest one.’
    ‘Was that when he trashed his mother’s plant pots on the patio?’ Tara – never one to hold back.
    Diane nodded.
    ‘Jeez – it doesn’t sound like Harper,’ Tara exclaims.
    ‘It’s not,’ Diane protests. ‘It really caught me by surprise. But it was a one-off. He’s not an aggressive person in the least.’
    ‘Has he made it up to her?’
    ‘No, not yet. But he will, in time.’ Diane turns to the fridge and slides out a chocolate tart – Tara’s favourite. She sets it in the centre of the table with a jug of thick cream. ‘He’s not one to hold on to bad feelings and he loves his mother.’
    Tara cuts herself a wedge of tart large enough for two and smothers it in double cream. She scoops a loose drip from the spout and licks her finger. ‘What do you think of his new stepfather?’
    ‘Bruce? He runs a loan company and it seems so underhand. I can see what Harper means. I’d hate to be involved in anything like that. It’s so unethical, preying on people’sdeluded optimism that magically they’re going to have the money to pay everything back as soon as they get to pay-day.’
    ‘What’s Bruce like, personally?’
    ‘Not sure, really. He seems a bit slippery. He’s got this humorous, nice-guy front all the time, but he often laughs at other people’s expense and he’s opinionated and sexist. Racist too, I’m afraid.’
    ‘Oh, dear,’ Tara cringes. ‘What does Harper’s mother see in him?’
    ‘She seems to adore him. He appears to treat her really well; he’s besotted with her too. He can’t do enough around the house, fixing things up, mowing the lawn, buying her expensive jewellery, taking her on trips. They’re going on a cruise in September. Lilian says it’s going to be a trip of a lifetime. She’s so happy.’
    ‘I wouldn’t mind a